Hot carbon spotting apparatus



June 23, 1942. L. F. HAGEMAN 2,287 426 HOT CARBON SPOT TING APPARATUS I Filed Nov. 19, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z-Zo-rne f- June 23,1942. 1.. F. HAGEMAN 2,287,426

HOT CARBON SPOT'IING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 19, 1958 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 l uviwj flgeman memes June 23, 1942 nor CARBON SPOTTING APPARATUS Louis F. Hageman, Niagara Falls, N. Y., assignor to American Sales Book Company, Inc., Niagara Falls, N. Y.,-a corporation of Delaware Application November 19, 1938, Serlal No. 241,386

Claim.

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for applying carbon transfer, or duplicating,

material to stationery. It has particular refer ence to the application of separate carbon spots at desired locations on long continuous webs of paper which are to be used in the manufacture of manifold stationery but it will be understood that the improvements described herein may be used to apply transfermaterial continuously to paper webs, as opp sed to separate areas.

Sometimes in the use of such stationery, whether it be in long continuous strips, or in relatively short sections, it is desired that certain data may be entered upon some, but not all, of the manifold sheets, while other data is to be entered upon all the sheets. While using sepa-.

rate carbon sheets, or paper which has been carbon coated on the reverse side, such entries can be made by applying a mask to the areas to be. protected, or by using carbon sheets having the carbon coated surface confined to the areas in which copying is desired. Ordinarily it is inconvenient to use masks which frequently result in smudging of the carbon. Specially coated carbon paper, as described, is expensive, has a generally unsatisfactory appearance, and its use is therefore confined to a relatively small variety of manifold stationery products. Accordingly it has been proposed to apply carbon materials in separate spots, or isolated areas, as required for the entries at the desired places, by a method which gives control of the carbon coating, and

control of the paper to be treated with carbon, and which can also be readily and economically co-ordinated with the present common methods of printing, and is applicable to a wide variety of manifold stationery products.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an apparatus whereby hot carbon material, frequently referred to as dope, and comprising wax, oil and coloring matter, may be applied at desired locations on continuous webs Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred embodiment of the present apparatus,

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite side of the apparatus,

Fig. 3 is a top view, Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 1, showing the mechanism for positioning the dope regulating roll, and

Fig. 6 is another view of this mechanism taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4, the supply of carbon transfer material, or dope, I0 is maintained in fluid condition in a reservoir, or pan, l I. As commonly used this dope consists of. wax, oil and coloring matter and it is heated to approximately the range of l80-200 F. to keep it sufliciently fluid to be applied to the paper. The level of dope in the dope pan may be kept substantially constant by suitable means such, for example, as a float-operated valve through which a supply of dope may be fed in accordance with the amount withdrawn from the pen.

The dope is maintained fluid in the dope pan II by a heated bath of oil ina reservoir l2. As illustrated, the dope pan II and the oil reservoir l2 may comprise a double walled structure with the dope in a trough formed by the upper wall and the oil between the two walls. This oil is heated by means of several electrical heating units l3 immersed in the oil and preferably controlled by thermostats in the-dope reservoir so as to maintain the dope at the desired-fluidity at all times.

As hereinafter described, this oil is circulated through most of the various rolls by which the dope is conveyed to the paper in order to maintain these rolls sufliciently warm to prevent chilling of the dope before it reaches the paper. The

, oil leaves the reservoir through the outlet It at of paper intended for continuous manifold stationery or other stationery made by continuous methods.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement whereby the amount of dope which is carried from the dope reservoir to the plate cylinder may be easily regulated without stopping the apparatus and a desired supply constantly maintained.

A still further object is to provide a system for supplying heat to the printing cylinder and to the various rolls conveying the dope to this cylinder so as to maintain the dope fluid until it is applied to the paper.

Further objects will be apparent and the in-- vention will be better understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which the bottom and returns through the inlet ii at the top.

As shown in Fig.1, the dope pan and oil reservoir may be raised or lowered under the control of the hand operated worm and worm wheel mechanism IE to which the oil reservoir is connected by means of the cable i'l.

The arrangement of the rolls which convey the dope from the dope reservoir to the paper, now to be described, is best shown in Fig. 4. The dope roll 20 which may be steel, is so positioned with respect to the dope pan ii that it dips into the heated dope. As illustrated. about one quarter of its circumference is immersed in the dope butout of the dope pan. This roll is rotated by means of a gear 2|, at one end of the roll in engagement with a large driving gear 22. The latter is used to rotate several other rolls in the system, as hereinafter described, and receives its power from the gear 23 which in turn receives power through a chain drive 24 from the main press or other suitable source.

The amount of dope which is lifted from the dope roll 20 as it rotates clockwise, as shown in Fig. 4, is not necessarily constant and for most purposes would be excessive in amount. Accordingly, means are provided for removing the excessive dope raised by the dope roll and controlling the amount of dope which is transported through the roll system to the paper. Such control is variable because different orders will require varying amounts of carbon to be deposited on the paper. 'The following regulating arrangement has been found very satisfactory.

A steel regulatmg roll 25, positioned so that it lies above the dope in the dope pan at all times, runs in contact with the dope roll 20. It may be, and preferably is, about one half the diameter of the dope roll and is driven by the gear 26 on the ends of its shaft (see Fig. 3) meshing with the smaller gear 21 on the dope roll shaft. These gears, 26 and 21, are so proportioned that the regulator roll rotates slower than the dope roll, say, for example, having a surface speed about one-quarter as fast, although this i is not a critical ratio.

.dope roll is fixed while that of the regulator roll maybe adjusted, without stoppin the apparatus, by means ofvthe mechanism shown more clearly in Figs-1, 3, 5, and 6. Referring first to Figs. 5 and 6, it will be observed that the Journals of the regulator roll are mounted in eccentric bearings 20 which are integral with the sector members 29, the latter being provided with gear teeth as illustrated. As these eccentric bearings are rotated .in one direction or the other, they cause the regulator roll to be moved toward or away from the dope roll depending on the direction of rotatiom of the sector members 20. The latter are rotated bythe pinions 30- on the transverse shaft II which has a worm wheel 32st one end engaging the warm it. This worm is rotated by the handle 34 (Fig. 1,)

ter regulation and more uniform distribution of dope than where a single roll serves both purposes, as has been proposed. From the transfer roll the dope is conveyed to a steel vibrator roll 31 which is made to reciprocate axially by suitable means well known in the printing industry and at the same time rotates because its associated gear ll meshes with the driving gear 22. These movements distribute the dope uniformly on a form roll 39 which is also preferably covered with a "rubber-like substance. Both the transfer roll and the form roll are driven by the vibrator gear 38 as indicated.

The following arrangement is provided to withdraw the transfer roll 35 and the form roll 38 from contact with the vibrator roll 31, the dope roll Ill and the printing cylinder 43 when the apparatus is not in use. The transfer roll 36 and the form roll I! are supported at the ends of arms "carried by the toothed sector members 4| which are pivoted near the ends opposite the teeth. The sector members may be raised by rotation of the pinions 53 which are caused to rotate by swinging movement of the lever 42 as will be readily understood.

The form roll spreads the carbon material on the plate roll or printing cylinder 43 having carbun-applying surfaces of the required design to print the carbon spots at equal distances along the paper web. This cylinder is driven by the gear -44 which engages the large driving gear 22. when plated, this cylinder .is preferably slightly greater, or slightly smaller, inv diameter than the dope roll and the dope roll gear 2| may have a correspondingly slightly different number of teeth from the printing cylinder gear 44, in order to give a "creeping" effect whereby more uniform distribution of dope on the printing cylinder is obtained.

The impressioncylinder 45 which is given a suitable impression surface by a covering of a rubber-like substance, is fluid cooled as hereinafter described, to chill the paper in contact with it so as to prevent the heated dope from penetrating too deeply into the paper and to prevent smudging in the subsequent operations.

The paper web 4 enters from the top of the apparatus and after' passing around the guide .roll 41 is wrapped around the impression cylinder to obtain this cooling effect. As illustrated, the paper may contact the impression cylinder for approximately 90 although it may be found advisable to vary this amount of contact depending upon the speed of the paper, temperatures of the dope and cooling fluid, and other fac- -tors. It will also be noted that the paper has and the extent of movement of the regulator roll toward or away from the dope :rollmay be observed from the movement of the. pointer 25 carried by the end of-the transverse shaft ll. With the arrangement described it is possible to make very fine adjustments in the relative positions of the dope and regulator rolls between a setting which, as a practical matter, does not permit any dope to pass, and one which passes I afllm of dope about ii" thick.

As the dope roll continues to rotate after its contact with the regulator roll, it carries with it the selected amount, of carbon material which it delivers to a"so-called transfer roll having a suitable coating. such as rubber, or a rubber substitute. It will' be noted that this material is transferred at a point removed from the regulator roll and entirely independently of it.

arrangement has been found to give much betis only tangential contact with the plate cylinder. As shown in Fig. 1, the impression cylinder journals are mounted in eccentric bearings integral with sector members 44 controlled by movements of the lever 49 in a similar manner to the bearing arrangement for the dope regulator roll,

' previously described. Thus the position of the impression cylinder may be adjusted for printing the carbon spots on different weights and grades of paper.

As has been known for many years, the plate cylinder and the paper may travel in the same direction and they may have the same surface speed, if desired, or the surface speed of the plate cylinder may be either faster or slower than that of the paper. After receiving the carbon from the plate cylinder, the paper may be wrapped around a cooling drum II which is rotated by the gear 22 as shown. In some instances it may be found desirable to wrap the paper around this drum for a substantial arc, say 270", while in other cases, the drum may be omitted altogether. If the web is to be subjected to'further operations, such as printing, folding, rewinding, cutting, etc., to which it is desirable to synchronize the feed, the web may pass out of the carbon-applying apparatus over a register roll whose position may be varied at will by means of screw adjustment 52 to control the feed of the paper for such operations.

The system for circulating heated oil through most of the dope-conveying rolls to maintain the dope sufficiently fluid during its travel to the paper, will now be described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. This oil flows from the reservoir I2 through the outlet H to a pump GI which forces the oil upward through the pipe ii to a header 62 from which the oil flows by gravity through the pipes 63 to the dope and regulator rolls and the printing cylinder. Each of these three members is a double-walled structure as may best be seen from Figs. 3 and 4. The oil dope roll for controlling the amount of material carried forward by the dope roll, a plate cylinder for transferring said carbon material to the stationery, an impression cylinder, means; for rotating said dope and regulating rolls at different surface speeds relative to each other, means for rotating said-dope and plate rolls at different surface speeds relative to each other and means for rotating said plate and impression cylinders at different surface speeds relative to each other. 3. Apparatus for applying isolated carbon spots comprising, a dope roll rotating partially submerged in, and adapted to raise, melted carbon material from a supply thereof, a regulating roll cooperating with the dope roll, to control the thickness of film carried past by the dope roll, means for-rotating the regulating roll at slower. surface speed than the .dope roll, means oper-. able during rotation of the regulating roll to vary its position with respect to the dope. roll whereby the thickness of said film is controlled, a plate cylinder applying carbon material to the stationery, a series of rolls for transferring the heats these members as it passes through them .reciprocates crosswise, its ends are connected with theinlet andoutlet headers by the flexible ,inlet and outlet connections 66 and i1, respectively. From the outlet header 65 the oil returns through the pipe 68 to the inlet connection I5 at the top of the oil reservoir I! where it is again heated for recirculation; Suitable valves may be placed wherever desired in this. circulatory system for controlling the flow of oil and the inlet header 62 may an overflow pipe.

The circulating system for cooling the impression cylinder 45 and the cooling drum 5. is also shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Cold water, or other cooling medium, is supplied through the pipe I5 and flows through the double-walled impression cylinder 45, then through the piping I6 to the cooling drum 50. After passing through this drum which is alsodouble-walled, it flows through the outlet pipe 11, to waste, or for cooling and recirculation.

For convenience, the appended claims refer to the material to be applied to the paper as carbon material but this expression isto be taken to include all duplicating materials with which the present invention may be employed regardless of whether they actually contain some car-' bon..

I claim: 1. Apparatus for applying isolated carbon spots to moving stationery comprising, a dope roll for raising melted carbon material from a supply thereof, a regulating roll cooperatingwith the dope roll for controlling the amount of material carried forward by the dope roll, means for rotatingsaid dope and regulating rolls at diiierent surface speeds relative to'each other, a plate cylinder for transferring said carbon material to the stationery, means operating independently of the regulating roll for conveying the carbon material from the dope roll to the plate cylinder, an impression cylinder and means for rotating said plate and impression cylinders at different surface speeds relative to each other. ,4 2. Apparatus for carbonizing isolated areas moving stationery comprising, a dope roll for raising melted carbon material froma suwly thereof, a regulating roll cooperating with the M carbon material from the dope roll to the plate cylinder, means for moving one-of said series of rolls axially and-means for rotating said dope roll and plate cylinder at different surface speeds be provided with relevantvto each other.

' 4. Apparatus for applying isolated carbon spots to moving stationery comprising, a dope roll for raising melted carbon material from a supply thereof, a regulating roll cooperating with the dope roll for controlling the amount of material carried forward by the dope roll, means for mainthe axis of rotation of said regulating roll in a flxed position relative to that of said dope roll, means for rotating said dope and regulating rolls at diflerent surface speeds relative to each other, a' plate cylinder for transferring said carbon material to the stationery, 'an impression cylinder, means cooperating with said dope roll directly and independently of said regulatingroll for conveying the carbon material from the dope roll to the plate cylinder, means for rotating said plate cylinder and said dope roll at different surface speeds relative to each other, and means for rotating said plate and impression cylinders at different surface speeds relative to each other.

5. Apparatus for applying isolated carbon spots to moving stationery comprising, a dope roll for melted carbon material from a supply thereof, a regulating roll cooperating with the dope roll for controlling the amount of material carried forward by the dope roll,- means manual- 1y operable during rotation of said dope and regulating rolls for shifting the axis of rotation of one of said rolls with respect to that of the other and for the first-mentioned axis of rotation in said shifted position until further manual operation of said means, means for rotating said .dope and regulating rolls at different surface speeds relative to each other, a plate cylinder for transferring said carbon material to the stationery, an impression cylinder, means cooperating with said dope roll directly and independently of said regulating roll for conveying "the carbon materialfrom the dope roll to the plate cylinder, means for rotating said plate cylinder and said dope roll at different surface speeds relative to each other, and means for rotating said plate and impression cylinders at different surface speeds relative to each other.

- LOUIS 1". HAGEMCAN. 

